The invention refers to a packaging machine having an intermittent foil advance and printing means. In such a known packaging machine the foil is at rest during the working cycles and is being printed in rest position by means of a plate printer or the like. However, the quality of the plate printers is lower than that of apparatus comprising impression cylinders. Moreover the size of the printing format is limited.
The German Laid Open Print No. 24 01 252 discloses a packaging machine having a continuous advance of the foil to be printed and operating with a rotary printing group. In fact an advance of the foil also takes place between the working cycles of the working stations in the first described type of packaging machines with intermittent foil advance. However, this advance occurs rather jerkilly and with short cycles compared to the working cycles such that so far a rotary printing group cannot be applied to such intermittently operating packaging machine.